Shoe and method of making the same



W. R. EKINS SHOE AND METHOD 0F MAKING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 25, 1925 Dec. 22,1925. 1,566,791 AW. R. EKINS SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 26, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fall? A Tra/wvfvs CFI Patented Dec. 22, 1.925.

UNITED STATES l estati eat-rana ortica.,

WALTER RQ EKINS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO BROWN SHOE COMPANY, INC., OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed June 26, 1925.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WALTER R. EKINS, a citizen of the United States of America, a resident of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoes and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates generally to improvements in shoes and methods of making the same, and more specifically to an attachment for a shoe whereby the heel portion of said shoe is prevented from accidentally moving' relative to the heel of the wearer when said wearer of said shoe is Walking.

Prior to this invention it has been found necessary, particularly in the case of womens shoes of the low type, to provide som-e means for preventing the heel portion of the shoe from accidentally moving relative to the heel of the wearer when the shoe is ieXed in walking. This relative movement between the heel portion of the shoe and the heel of the wearer is objectionable for the reason that it has a tendency to wear the. stockings at the points where the rubbing action takes place, and also because it often causes formation of sores or blisters on the wearers heels. The relative movement of the heel portions of shoes of the type mentioned and the heels of the wearers of said shoes was caused to a large extent by the fact that the inner faces of the inner quarters of; said shoes were rather smooth, and to eliminate this movement manufacturers of shoes have been arranging pieces of material having comparatively' rough faces within the shoes at the heel portions thereof. The pieces of material mentioned were, of course, of somel thickness and said pieces of materia] were secured on the inside faces of the shoes so that they extendedinto said shoes a. distance equal to the thickness ofsaid pieces. As a consequnce-.of the presence of these pieces of material -shoulders were formed within the shoes which tended to render the use of said Serial No. 39,663.

it 4 was before the practice of placing the pieces of material in the shoes was adopted.

'Io eliminate the disadvantages in connection with the use of the pieces of material formerly employed, I have evolved the arrangement disclosed herein, which, briefly stated., comprises arranging a. piece or pieces of rough faced material in the heel portion of a shoe, bui-l instead of arranging my piece or pieces of rough faced material on the inner face of the shoe, as has been the case heretofore, I cut an opening or openings in the inner quarters of the shoe and set the plece or pieces of rough faced material in said opening or openings in such manner that the rough faces of the pieces of material are flush with the inside faces of the inner quarters of the shoe. By so arranging my piece or pieces of rough faced material the objectionable shoulders formerly present in the shoes at the pieces of rough material are eliminated and consequently the heel portion of the shoe is much more comfortable than heretofore and the likelihood that the wearers stockings will be worn or sores or blisters formed on said wearers heels is greatly reduced.

Fig. I is a view of a shoe provided with my improved meansl for preventing accidental relative movement between the heel portion of said shoe and the heel of the wearer thereof.

Fig. II is a cross section of the shoe shown in Fig. I .looking rearwardly.

Fig. III is a section ou line III- Ill ol' Fig. II.

Fig. IV is a vicw-of a pair of inner quarters of a shoe showing said inner quarters as they will appear before the pieces of material have been cut therefrom.

Fig. V illustrates the step of cutting pieces of material from the ,inner quarters.

Fig. VI illustrates the inner quarters shown in Fig. IV after the pieces ofmaterial have been cut therefrom and'after said pieces of material have been reversed and are being replaced in the openings' from which they were. cut.

Fig. VII is a fragmentary perspective or a pair of inner quarters showing the pieces Ofmaterial secured in place and with a portion of one of said inner quarters broken away to show one of the backing members which are employed to secure said pieces of material in place.

lll)

D. The shoe illustrated in the drawings ins cludes valso inner and outer soles, heel vamp, etc., but as these parts of a shoe are well known they will not be described herein. The materia-l from which the inner quarters C are cut is provided with a smooth face and a relatively rough face, as shown in Fig. VI, wherein the smooth face is designated by the reference character Ca and the rough face by the reference Character C". In the formation of a shoe the smooth sides C of the inner quarters are always exposed at the inside of the shoe as shown in Fig. I. The oppositely arranged inner quart-ers of a shoe are stitched or otherwise secured together at the heel portion of the shoe, as shown' in Figs. I, II and III, the line E iiidicating the meeting edges of said oppositely arranged inner quarters at which points the stitches are located. l i

Formed in the oppositely arranged inner quarters C of the shoe A adjacent to the meeting edges E thereof are openings 1, said openings each having anV open end at the edge E of the inner quarter in which it is formed and being extended some distance inwardly from said edge E. By referring to Figs. I and II it will be seen that the openings 1 in the oppositely arranged inner quarters C are arranged in registration with each other with the open end of one of said. openings alined with and adjacent to the open end of` the other opening, so that what is in effect a single opening is produced. Arrangedl inthe openings 1 are sections of material 2, said-sections of material being of the same contour as the openings -1 and said sections of material being set in said openings l so that the inner faces of said'sections of material are flush with the inner faces of 'the inner quarters C of the shoe. The inner faces of the sections of material 2` that is, the faces of said Sections which are flush with the inner faces of the inner quarters C, are considerably rougher than the inner faces of said inner quarters C, and said pieces of material are stitched together at their meeting edges indicated by' the line F in Figs. I and 1I', said line F being in alineinnt with the. line E on whch the inner quarters C are stitched together.

Located adjacent to the outer faces of the -inner quarters C and the outer faces ofthe leather. The backing members 3 are of the same general shape as the sections of ma-l terial 2, there being one of said backing members for each individual sectionof the material 2 and said' backing members being 'of largerdimensions than said sections of The adhesive 4 causes thebackinff members 3 to adhere to the inner quarters C and to the sections of material 2 whereby said sec,- tioiis of material are securely fixed in place within the openings 1 in the inner quarters C. The associated backing members 3 of a shoe are provided with adjacent edges 3 which are alined with the meeting edges of the sections of material 2, and said associated backing members are stitched together at said adjacent edges preferably by the same stitches which secure the sections o-f material 2 together. y

To insure the proper retention of the sections of material 2 within the opening l I employ Va row of stitches 5 which pass through said -sections of material 2 andthrough the backing members 8 and a second row of stitches 6 which pass through said backing member 34 and through said inner quarters C, whereby said elements are securely fixed together.

In the use of a shoe nrrwflhr1 Hh my improyed means for preventing movement of the heel portion thereof with respect to the heel of the wearer, the rough faces of the sections of material 2 will grip the stockings of the wearer and thus to a large extent yprevent the objectionable rubbing of 'the shoe against the heel of the wearer, and because said sections of' material are flush with the inner faces of the slices no shoulders are present in`tlie shoes 'which would render their use uncomfortable, and perhaps cause damage to the stockings or produce sores or blisters on the heels of the wearer.

As already stated, the material' from -which the inner quarters C of my improved shoe are cut is provided with a smooth face C2L and a comparatively rough; face C, and I takeadvantage of this fact to provide my improved shoewith a rough faced piece of material for preventing accidental movement of the heel portion of the shoe relative to the heel of the wearer without the addition to the shoe of a separate piece or pieces of material. 4

In accordance with the method followed in producing my improved shoe the inner quarters are cnt, after .'TZ ``id inner quarters are arranged face to face as shown in Fig. V and are introduced into an apparatus having die members Gr and H, which are adapted to cnt sections of material 2 iso from said inner quarters C and form the openings 1. The sections of material 2 are then reversed as suggested in Fig. VI, and said sections of material are replaced in the openings l from'which they were cut with the rough faces-of said sections of material 2 flush with the smooth faces of the inner quarters C. The sections of material are 4then secured in place by means of the backing` members 3 already referred to, said backing members being secured by-me-ans of an adhesive and by means of stitches to said sections of material and to said inner quarters, as shown in Fig. VII and already eX- plained.

It i's therefore plain that in accorda-nce with my improved method a shoe is produced with rough faced -pieces of material to prevent movement of the heel portion of the shoe relative to the heel of the-wearer;

without the use of additional pieces of material other than the relatively inexpensive vbacking members 43 whereby the cost of pro ducing the shoe is less than it was heretofore when a separate piece of material was secured to the inside face of the shoepand in addition to this a more comfortable shoe is produced because of the arrangement of the inner face of the rough faced section of material flush with the inner face of the shoe.

I claim: y

1. In a new article of manufacture an apparel shoe having an inner quarter provided with a relatively smooth inner face, and means whereby the heel portion of said shoe is prevented from accidentally moving relative to the heel of the wearer, said means ycomprising a section of material having a roughened face, said roughened face of said section of material being arranged Hush with v the relatively smooth inner face of said inner quarter.

2. In a new art1cle'of manufacture an apparel shoe having an lnner quarter provided with a relatively smooth inner face, land means whereby the heel portion of said shoe is prevented from accidentally moving relative to the: heel of the wearer, said means comprising a section of material having a roughened face, said section of material being set into an opening in said inner quarter and said roughened face thereof being flush with the .relatively smooth face of said inner quarter. A

l3. In a new article of manufacture an apparel shoe having an inner quarter provided with a relatively smooth inner face, means whereby the heel portion of said shoe is prevented from accidentally moving relative to the heel of the wearer, said means comprising a section of material having a roughened face, said section of material being arranged so that itsroughened face, is iush withy the relatively smooth face of said inner quarter, and a backing member, said lbacking member being secu-red to said section of materialand to said inner quarter whereby said section of material is retained in position.

4:. In a new article of "manufacture an ap- 70 parel shoe having inner quarters provided with relatively smooth inner faces, means whereby the heel portion of said shoe is prevented from accidentally'moving relative toY the heel of the wearer, said means comprising sections of material provided with roughened faces which are .set into openings in said inner quarters and the roughened faces thereof'being flush with the relatively smooth faces of said inner quarters, and means whereby said sections of material are retained in position, saidmeans comprising backing members secured by means of an adhesive and by means of stitches to said sections of material and to said inner quarters, 95 said backing members being arranged adjacentv to the outer faces of said inner quarters. y

5. The herein described method of makingy shoes which comprises cutting the inner quarters thereof from material one face of which is rougher than the opposite face thereof, cutting pieces of material from said inner quarters, reversing said pieces lof material and .replacing them in the openings thus formed-in said inner quarters with the rough faces of said pieces of material flush with the smooth facfes of said inner quarters, and then securing said pieces of material in position.

6. The herein described method of making shoes Vwhich comprises cutting the inner quarters thereof from material one face of f which is rougher than' the opposite face thereof, cutting pieces of material from said l inner quarters, reversing said pieces of material and replacing them in the openingsv thus formed in saidinner quarters with the rough faces'of said .pieces of material iush with the smooth faces of said inner quarters, and then applying backing rmembers provided .with faces having an adhesive thereon to said pieces ofmaterial and to said inner quarters whereby said pieces of material are seculredin position. A

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto affix my signature.

' WALTER R. EKINS 

